Popular with holidaymakers since the 1960s, the Varna region
of Bulgaria's Black Sea coast was considered a highly
desirable vacation spot within the Eastern Bloc. Since the
1990s, the region has been increasingly integrated into the
global tourism market as a mass tourism destination. This
book is an ethnographic study of the transformation of
Varna's tourism industry after the collapse of socialism. It
examines the impact of changing tourist flows on the region
and its population, addressing wider issues such as the
social and economic contours of postsocialist transformation
in Varna, growing stratification within Bulgarian society,
and the re-shaping of Bulgarian national identity between
"Europe" and the "Orient".